Sewer springs a leak in Phillipsburg near free bridge

When someone noticed liquid springing up from cracks in the parking lot along Riverside Way late Monday night in Phillipsburg, the person assumed it was a water leak.

But Mayor Harry Wyant Jr. said the town quickly learned it was actually sewer water from a pipe that sprung a leak. The severe break in a main happened along Riverside Way, at the edge of the free bridge, about 11 p.m. Monday, he said.

"As soon as we noticed, we stopped the flow," he said. "That's our main concern - that we didn't allow it to continue."

Town officials immediately notified the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and called in contractors to repair the leak, Wyant said. The contractors are sucking the untreated sewer from the pit and are trucking it to a manhole off the 200 block of South Main Street, he said.

The pipe that burst was a forced main, which ordinarily pushes the waste water uphill, Wyant said. He said transporting it to the South Main Street location allows it to flow downhill to the sewer plant for treatment.

Wyant said he has no idea how much it will cost yet. He told Town Council they may need to do an emergency appropriation at the next meeting to pay for the repairs. The work was still going on as of about 8 tonight.